Welfarehttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/welfare
en-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 21:41:54 -0500Fri, 09 Dec 2016 21:41:54 -0500The latest news on Welfare from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-department-of-economic-security-weapons-2016-12The headquarters of an Arizona welfare agency had a stockpile of weapons and ammunition in its basementhttp://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-department-of-economic-security-weapons-2016-12
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:04:00 -0500Patrick Hogan
<p><img class="float_left float_right" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58409800ba6eb64e018b6887-1422/screen%20shot%202016-12-01%20at%2043600%20pm.png" alt="Arizona Department of Economic Security" data-mce-source="Screenshot via The Arizona Republic" data-mce-caption="Arizona Department of Economic Security" data-link="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/11/30/arizona-guns-bullets-ammunition-seized-des-director-tim-jeffries-fired/94625698/"></p><p>The Arizona Department of Economic Security is the state’s primary welfare agency, taking care of food aid, child care, rehabilitation services and other similar things. So why was there a large weapons cache in the basement of the agency’s headquarters?</p>
<p>You’d have to ask the department’s former director.</p>
<p><em>The Arizona Republic</em> <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/11/30/arizona-guns-bullets-ammunition-seized-des-director-tim-jeffries-fired/94625698/">reported</a> that last week, on the day former department director Tim Jeffries was forced to resign, state police found 50 handguns and 80,000 rounds of ammunition in a locked room in the department’s basement. (It’s unclear whether his ousting and the arms cache were connected.) They also discovered that Jeffries and four other department employees who were also fired had bought personal handguns with public money, and confiscated those weapons as well.</p>
<p>So why did Jeffries feel the need to arm a state welfare agency with the loadout of a small police department? Islamic terrorism. Yes, you read that correctly.</p>
<p>“These jihadists in San Bernardino attacked a social service center for the developmentally disabled. They will go anywhere,” Jeffries told the <em>Republic</em> when reached for comment. “As a director, one of my highest priorities was to protect my people and my clients. I stand by that with pride.”</p>
<p>So, because there once was a terrorist attack on a social service agency, all social service agencies now need to have small arsenals? That’s a fun and optimistic vision of the future.</p>
<p>This is far from the first time Jeffries has been in the spotlight. A spokesperson for Gov. Doug Ducey <a href="http://tucson.com/gov-ducey-fires-arizona-s-embattled-des-director-tim-jeffries/article_d8795d18-b1b7-11e6-8379-434ef1c7a2a7.html">would not tell the <em>Arizona Daily Star</em></a>which single incident that led to his ouster, but there has been a long string of controversial incidents involving the director.</p>
<p>He emailed the agency’s 7,000-plus staffers asking them to pray for him during his <a href="http://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/des-chief-s-emails-about-shrine-visit-were-ok-arizona/article_c517c41e-fb01-53ac-9d7d-29989f46b903.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=email&amp;utm_campaign=user-share">religious pilgrimage to a Catholic shrine in Lourdes, France</a>.</p>
<p>He sent out political messages condemning a ballot measure that would have <a href="http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/des-director-e-mails-anti-prop-205-campaign-propaganda-to-entire-staff-8683080">legalized marijuana</a>. He fired almost 500 workers, half of whom the <em>Arizona Republic</em> reported had <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/11/07/arizona-des-marketing-manager-alleges-wrongful-firing-agency-misconduct/93441852/">previously received merit raises </a>for outstanding performance.</p>
<p>There are more bizarre stories too, such as claims he forced his staff to watch “mojo” videos of him delivering speeches. <em>The Republic</em>reported that employees they spoke with said their computers were programmed to not function until the videos were watched in their entirety. (Jeffries <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/11/23/gov-doug-ducey-fires-arizona-des-chief-tim-jeffries/94350606/">declined to comment</a> to the media about his firing.)</p>
<p>No examples of these videos were provided, but the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/azdesgov/videos">department’s YouTube page</a> is filled with videos of Jeffries giving motivational TED-talk style speeches, like this one where Jeffries implores his employees to “self-select into awesomeness”</p>
<p><div>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/L6GsNW6gKVM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></p>
<h3><span>There are also gems like these. Each is more, um, unique than the last!</span></h3>
<p><span><div>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mO7R7NVa5Zw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></span></p>
<p> <div>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Nc4WY7rG01A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></p>
<p> <span>Most of these videos show Jeffries preaching to a captive audience of state workers. Guess they knew who’s got guns in the basement.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-department-of-economic-security-weapons-2016-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/insectothopter-cia-dragonfly-spy-drone-military-defense-espionage-spies-2016-12">In the 1970s the CIA created a spy drone the size of a dragonfly</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/congressman-robert-pittenger-protesters-hate-white-people-2016-9Charlotte congressman on protesters: 'They hate white people, because white people are successful and they're not'http://www.businessinsider.com/congressman-robert-pittenger-protesters-hate-white-people-2016-9
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:24:00 -0400Emmanuel Ocbazghi
<div><div>
<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script><div class="g-ytsubscribe" data-channel="BusinessInsider" data-layout="full" data-count="default"></div>
</div></div>
<p class="embed-spacer"></p>
<p>Congressman Robert Pittenger of North Carolina is taking heat for his racially charged statement.</p>
<p><strong>Follow BI Video: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/BI_Video" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://twitter.com/BI_Video&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1474390792659000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFvvk90pnxI-vAi7kHqJw-E4OyhVA">On Twitter</a><span> </span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/congressman-robert-pittenger-protesters-hate-white-people-2016-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/funerals-cost-rising-britain-2016-3The government is failing to keep up with the rising costs of funerals in Britainhttp://www.businessinsider.com/funerals-cost-rising-britain-2016-3
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 07:51:00 -0400Adam Payne
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/570103a6dd089581178b46fb-1067-800/rts8pu3.jpg" alt="Stephen Crabb" data-mce-source="Stefan Wermuth / Reuters" /></p><p></p>
<p>The government is failing to support families on low incomes cope with the rising costs of funerals in Britain, according to a <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmworpen/551/55102.htm" target="_blank">report published by a group of MPs</a>.</p>
<p><span>The Commons Work and Pensions Committee has warned the country&nbsp;could see a return to&nbsp;"miserable pauper's funerals" reminiscent of Victorian Britain, whereby grieving people will not be able to afford even the most simple funeral arrangements.</span></p>
<p><span><span>The maximum funeral subsidy currently available for people on low incomes is &pound;700, but this sum has been frozen since 2003. This is despite evidence given to the committee by insurance group Royal London which said the&nbsp;average funeral cost rose by 3.9% in just one year 2014-2015.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The estimated average cost of a funeral in the UK now sits at &pound;3,600,<span>&nbsp;the </span><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3bad1a50-f5b1-11e5-96db-fc683b5e52db.html#axzz44TXfbAuj" target="_blank">Financial Times</a>&nbsp;reports.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>According to <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2016-03-31/grieving-relatives-unable-to-pay-for-rising-funeral-costs-mps-warn/" target="_blank">ITV News</a>, the commit ee gave examples of cases where bereaved people had employed desperate measures in order to save sufficient funds&nbsp;for a funeral &mdash; including a woman who froze her son's body for months until she had saved enough money.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>Frank Field, MP for Birkenhead, chaired the committee. He said:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Funeral payments for those who can prove they are entitled &mdash; and that is a very uncertain and onerous process &mdash; now fall far short of covering even a basic funeral.&nbsp;We heard clear evidence of the distressing circumstances and debt this is leading people into, at a time when they are grieving and vulnerable. We do not want a return to the spectre of miserable 'pauper's funerals'.</p>
<p>He added: "The support for widowed parents is also badly outdated, with benefits denied to cohabiting parents. Penalising a child on the grounds of their parents' marital status is as unjust as it is anachronistic."</p>
<p>The committee recommended authorities investigate the fees charged by funeral directors, and said Whitehall should try to negotiate with the industry&nbsp;to reduce costs for low-income households.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span></span>A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions, the government department responsible for drawing up funeral subsidies, told Business Insider&nbsp;over email:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">We are modernising bereavement benefits, introducing a simpler and fairer scheme that will better assist people in what can be an extremely difficult time.&nbsp;The planned new Bereavement Support Payment will provide a higher lump sum payment than currently is offered and more people will be able to claim this full support now we have removed the lower age limit.</p>
<p><span>Stephen Crabb became secretary of State for Work and Pensions in March when </span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/iain-duncan-smith-andrew-marr-interview-resignation-budget-welfare-cuts-2016-3" target="_blank">Iain Duncan Smith unexpectedly resigned</a>&nbsp;over cuts to disability benefits announced in Chancellor George Osborne's budget.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/funerals-cost-rising-britain-2016-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/6-companies-that-receive-corporate-welfare-2015-106 companies that receive 'corporate welfare'http://www.businessinsider.com/6-companies-that-receive-corporate-welfare-2015-10
Sat, 03 Oct 2015 16:14:58 -0400Mike Vainisi
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/56103632bd86ef1b008bf126-631-474/screen shot 2015-10-03 at 4.09.25 pm.png" alt="lewiston maine mayor robert mcdonald" data-mce-source="WMTW-TV" /></p><p>The mayor of Lewiston, Maine, has been at the center of controversy for proposing that the names of all welfare recipients should be published on the town's website.</p>
<p>Late last week, Mayor Robert McDonald <a href="http://www.twincitytimes.com/columns/enough-is-enough-mainers-have-a-right-to-know-how-their-money-is-spent" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">published an op-ed</a> in the local Twin City Times, arguing that if taxpayers have a right to know the salaries of public employees, they also have a right to know who is taking welfare money.</p>
<p class="content-text__blockquote__text">But if the government is supposed to publish the names of everyone on public aid, shouldn't they also have to publish the names of companies receiving corporate welfare?</p>
<p class="content-text__blockquote__text">If they did, here are five corporations that would be on the list:</p>
<h2>1. MCDONALD'S</h2>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55f9e20d9dd7cc18008bae4a-4270-2846/shutterstock_125297672.jpg" alt="nyc mcdonalds" data-mce-source="Shutterstock" /></p>
<p>Almost everyone knows the extent to which McDonald's employees are paid extremely low wages, and that's because the numbers are not pretty. Even <a href="http://www.attn.com/stories/1374/mcdonalds-wage-increase-promises" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">after the company announced a raise</a> for a small fraction of employees working at corporate-owned stores, the average worker pay is not more than $10 an hour.</p>
<p>How can McDonald's afford to pay employees so little? Because employees make ends meet with government aid programs, such as welfare, public housing, and food stamps. The result is that taxpayer aid is an integral part of McDonald's business model.</p>
<p>In 2013, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-10-15/mcdonalds-low-wages-come-with-a-7-billion-side-of-welfare" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a report found</a> that McDonald's employees received a whopping $1.2 billion in public aid each year between 2007 and 2011. Another <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-10-15/mcdonalds-low-wages-come-with-a-7-billion-side-of-welfare" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">report</a> from that year estimated that the taxpayer bill for the entire fast-food industry comes out to $9 billion per year.</p>
<h2>2. OLIVE GARDEN</h2>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/556c6716eab8ea3a3fb5ebc0-800-582/screen shot 2015-06-01 at 10.06.31 am.png" alt="olive garden" data-mce-source="YouTube" data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcmzaVQfgp0" /></p>
<p>The list of restaurants taking advantage of public money is not limited to fast food. Chain restaurants such as Olive Garden also pay low wages. A report from the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) <a href="http://www.attn.com/stories/1442/roc-study-public-assistance-full-service-workers" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">concluded that more than $9.4 billion in taxpayer money goes to support full-service restaurant workers</a> (e.g., servers, dishwashers, or cooks).</p>
<p>That same report found that workers at Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden as well as other restaurant chains such as Seasons 52, The Capitol Grille, and Yard House, were forced to take $339,772,942 in public assistance just to get by.</p>
<h2>3. THE NFL</h2>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/55fc9fdc5afbd3167f8b4567-800-525/high-percentage-of-ex-nfl-players-had-brain-disease-report-2015-9.jpg" alt="A man stands at a window lit by the NFL logo as he watches performances during the 2012 NFL kickoff show in New York September 5, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="A man stands at a window lit by the NFL logo in New York" /></p>
<p>Few enterprises are more dependent on government subsidies than professional sports leagues, and the NFL is one of the leaders in relying on taxpayer dollars. Since 1997, NFL franchises have received $4.7 billion in taxpayer aid to help build 20 stadiums, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/30/news/companies/nfl-taxpayers/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">according to a Bloomberg report</a> on a study from a sports advisory firm.</p>
<p>As the piece points out, this trend is not slowing. Both Minnesota and Atlanta are awaiting construction on new stadiums that will cost local taxpayers a combined $700 million.</p>
<p>It's not just football. Both Major League Baseball and the NBA have benefited immensely from publicly financed stadiums. The NBA's Milwaukee Bucks<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/scott-walker-approves-spending-250-million-on-milwaukee-bucks-arena/2015/08/12/5cd72d54-4055-11e5-9561-4b3dc93e3b9a_story.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> just received $250 million in aid</a> for a new stadium.</p>
<h2>4. CHEVRON (AND OTHER BIG OIL COMPANIES)</h2>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/55e9f4ae6bb3f72736f0b9ea-1563-1038/standard-chevron-gas-gasoline-station.jpg" alt="standard chevron gas gasoline station" data-mce-source="Flickr / Orange County Archives" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ocarchives/2967416350" /></p>
<p>The U.S. provided $4.8 billion in aid to fossil fuel companies in 2013, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/oil-subsidies-renewable-energy-tax-breaks" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">according to a report from Mother Jones</a>, and Chevron received $700 million, the most of any company. (ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were closely behind at $600 million each.)</p>
<p>So how do these companies receive their subsidies? There is a series of antiquated tax breaks and deductions that help oil companies pad their revenues. For instance, oil companies are allowed to expense 70 percent of drilling costs and save money with the help of favorable depreciation rules. Mother Jones reported that the annual cost of just that loophole amounts to as much as $700 million to $3.5 billion every year.</p>
<p>Many of these favorable laws were initially enacted as far back as the 1920s, when fossil fuel drilling was a far riskier proposition and long before we knew the consequences of carbon-driven climate change. Today, Big Oil continues to benefit from the legacy of this bygone era.</p>
<h2>5. AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES</h2>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55e615875afbd357118b456d-800-517/mongolia-in-for-double-whammy-drought-now-dzud-next-2015-9.jpg" alt="A harvester works in a crops field affected by drought, near Ulaanbaatar, in Talbulag, Jargalant district, Tov province, Mongolia, August 26, 2015. REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="A harvester works in a crops field affected by drought, near Ulaanbaatar, in Talbulag, Jargalant district" /></p>
<p>Taxpayers shell out $20 billion a year in subsidies to farmers, the Economist <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21643191-crop-prices-fall-farmers-grow-subsidies-instead-milking-taxpayers" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">reported</a> in May. Why is the bill so high? For example, as mentioned in the Economist report, the federal government paid $3 million in subsidies between 2007 and 2011 to farmers who did not grow <em>any </em>crops. And, even worse, $10.6 million was paid to farmers who had been dead for more than a year.</p>
<p>So why do we handout so much money to farmers? The logic is that the U.S. needs to produce its own food as a matter of national security. The subsidies help support our agricultural industry. The problem, according to opponents, is that these subsidies are far too generous and have produced a system where farm-owning companies attempt to game taxes in order to extract the largest possible subsidy.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/6-companies-that-receive-corporate-welfare-2015-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spot-massive-hole-sun-coronal-hole-video-2016-12">NASA just spotted a massive hole growing on the sun — here’s what it means</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/uk-to-cut-welfare-of-addicts-and-obese-2015-8The UK wants to cut the welfare payments of drug addicts, alcoholics, and obese peoplehttp://www.businessinsider.com/uk-to-cut-welfare-of-addicts-and-obese-2015-8
Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:30:00 -0400Tim Sandle
<p><span><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5576c9f069beddbd2245a3dc-3500-2218/rtr2i9uu.jpg" alt="hsbc homeless" data-mce-source="REUTERS/ Eduardo Munoz " data-mce-caption="A homeless man sleeps on a street outside a branch of HSBC bank in New York .">The U.K. government is seeking to cost out the amount spent on treating obese people, drug addicts and alcoholics. One of the measures being considered is to reduce state support for people who fall within these groupings.</span><span><br></span></p>
<p><span><span>Turning the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/field_01.shtml" target="_blank">concept of universal welfare</a><span> on its head, David Cameron has a plan to reduce welfare payments for people who are above a certain weight or who have been identified as drug abusers or who are apparent alcoholics. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This is because, the Conservative Party reasoning goes, that people so categorized as fat, drug takers or heavy drinkers, are unlikely to be in a position to secure employment. If the philosophy of welfare payments is to temporarily support people who have become unemployed in their quest to secure employment, then people who have fallen on very hard times and have entered a cycle of addiction need an incentive to overcome their problems.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>These incentives are set to be monetary. Ignoring the counter-argument about penalizing those who need help the most and also statistics that align drug abuse with crime (and the possibility that those with less money but who are addicts will need to turn to crime more frequently), the Conservative government appear set to press ahead with the reforms.</span></span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11769531/Cost-of-obesity-drug-abuse-and-alcoholism-to-be-revealed.html" target="_blank">According to The Daily Telegraph</a><span>, obese people could have welfare payments, which stand at around £100 ($150) per week reduced or even stopped completely if the people assessed by the state as overweight refuse or are unsuccessful in shedding pounds.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In addition, there are an estimated 90,000 people who are in receipt of sickness incapacity benefit where the reason for the sickness is linked to drug addiction. The government is drawing up plans to halt payments to addicts as well.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>At the same time as proposing to restrict welfare, the government is attempting to produce meaningful statistics on the cost of obesity and drug addiction to the health service. Some figures put the cost of obesity at £5 billion ($8 billion); others argue that these costs are an underestimate.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In a government statement, </span><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-increase-support-for-benefit-claimants-with-addictions-and-treatable-conditions" target="_blank">Prime Minister Cameron declared</a><span>: “Our One Nation approach is about giving everyone the opportunity to improve their lives and for some that means dealing with those underlying health issues first and foremost.”</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This approach places the blame for obesity, drug addiction and alcoholism firmly at the door of the individual. However, </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/29/benefits-drugs-alcohol-obesity-refusing-treatment-review" target="_blank">according to The Guardian</a><span>, there are many reasons for obesity, several of which are not ‘self-inflicted’. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There are also a range of health conditions: “Being overweight is associated with increases in the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, several types of cancers, and musculoskeletal conditions, and is also associated with poor mental health in adults, and stigma and bullying in childhood.”</span><span><br></span></span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/greg-gopman-solving-homelessness-in-san-francisco-2015-1" >Solving Homelessness in San Francisco</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uk-to-cut-welfare-of-addicts-and-obese-2015-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/animation-shows-legionnaires-disease-spread-new-york-bronx-2015-8">An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in New York has killed at least 8 people — now officials think they've found the source</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ohio-to-drug-test-people-on-welfare-2015-8Ohio wants to start drug testing people on welfarehttp://www.businessinsider.com/ohio-to-drug-test-people-on-welfare-2015-8
Wed, 05 Aug 2015 17:45:00 -0400Michelle Toh
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/55c28aad371d2212008bd408-613-460/screen%20shot%202014-04-08%20at%204.19.55%20pm.png" alt="Guy with help the poor sign" data-mce-source="YouTube/The Pilion Trust Charity"></p><p>Ohio state legislators are reviving a controversial plan to screen welfare applicants for drugs, reports <a href="http://fox8.com/2015/08/05/ohio-proposal-seeks-to-drug-test-certain-welfare-applicants/" target="_self">the Associated Press</a>.</p>
<p>The bill, expected to be introduced Wednesday, is being sponsored by Republican Reps. Tim Schaffer and Ron Maag.</p>
<p>Representative Schaffer first <a href="http://www.acluohio.org/legislation/2013-2014-sb-182" target="_self">proposed the idea</a> for a two-year pilot program in 2013, and said at a press conference Tuesday that the new legislation resolves concerns associated with his previous bill.</p>
<p><span>Before, for instance, applicants who were denied welfare wouldn’t have been given the ability to receive drug treatment, reported </span><a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/08/ohio_lawmakers_propose_drug_te.html" target="_blank">Cleveland.com</a><span>, but the new bill appropriates $100,000 for treatment programs.</span></p>
<p>If the measure passes, people applying for cash assistance under the Ohio Works First program would, first, undergo written screenings. Those with risk factors for drug abuse would be referred to a urine test, and, if applicable, on to a course of treatment. After six months, they would be eligible to get re-tested, reports <a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/drug-tests-pushed-for-welfare-recipients/nnCs5/" target="_self">Dayton Daily News</a>.</p>
<p>Under this proposal, benefits would still be made <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/08/ohio_lawmakers_propose_drug_te.html" target="_self">available to the families</a> of rejected applicants through guardians, churches, or other third parties, says Schaffer.</p>
<p>"This legislation is not a means to deny benefits, but rather, a means to identify and help these families in need," he <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/08/ohio_lawmakers_propose_drug_te.html" target="_self">said</a>. "There's nothing that's going to stop getting the benefits to the children and families that need it."</p>
<p>As of May 2015, about 110,000 people – 95,000 children and 15,000 adults – were receiving Ohio Works First benefits, according to the <a href="http://jfs.ohio.gov/pams/Reports/PAMS2015-05.stm" target="_self">Ohio Department of Job and Family Services</a>. On average, each recipient got about $195 per month, for a total of more than $21 million each month.</p>
<p><div>
<iframe width="840" height="400" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/x3Ajmv4NKyM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></p>
<p>Ohio has tightened its public benefits system in recent years. In 2012, the state was <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/1015/Ohio-pushes-welfare-recipients-to-find-work-and-exit-the-system" target="_self">“still scrambling”</a> to meet a new federal standard designed to find jobs for at least half of all welfare recipients, reported The Christian Science Monitor.</p>
<p>"Enrollment in the program has dropped after the state began enforcing requirements that able-bodied adult recipients work or train for a job at least 30 hours a week," according to <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/08/ohio_lawmakers_propose_drug_te.html" target="_self">Cleveland.com</a>.</p>
<p>But the idea of cutting benefits is a polarizing one that strikes familiar chords across the nation. A growing number of states – now 13 – have passed bills to test or screen public assistance recipients for drugs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Among the recently contested states are <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1211/Drug-testing-welfare-recipients-War-on-drugs-or-war-on-the-poor-video" target="_self">Michigan</a>, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0319/Drug-testing-Florida-aims-to-be-first-to-test-public-workers" target="_self">Florida</a>, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0123/Drug-testing-for-welfare-recipients-Wisconsin-poised-to-join-other-states" target="_self">Wisconsin</a>, and <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0407/Why-is-Kansas-pursuing-tougher-welfare-rules-video" target="_self">Kansas</a>. Broad testing rules in Florida <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/drug-testing-and-public-assistance.aspx" target="_blank">were struck down</a> in 2013, when a district court ruled that the law violated Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable search. </p>
<p>In February, news site Think Progress also found that welfare "applicants actually test positive <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/26/3624447/tanf-drug-testing-states/" target="_blank">at a lower rate</a> than the drug use of the general population." Of the seven states that had existing programs, "the rate of positive drug tests to total welfare applicants ranges from 0.002 percent to 8.3 percent, but all except one have a rate below 1 percent," noted the report.</p>
<p>This meant that taxpayers were "spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to ferret out very few drug users," it concluded.</p>
<p>"While supporters say the Republican-backed legislation targets drug use and encourages responsible public spending, critics say it is unconstitutional, humiliating, and wasteful," <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1211/Drug-testing-welfare-recipients-War-on-drugs-or-war-on-the-poor-video" target="_self">reported the Monitor</a> on a bill last year in Michigan.</p>
<p>Looking at those who have taken to social media, the landscape in Ohio is just as divided.</p>
<p><div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
Heard you have to take a drug test to receive welfare in Ohio now 🙌🙌🙌 hoping it's true </p>— Thobe (@AlexThobe) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/626550702920196097">July 30, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></p>
<p class="embed-spacer"> <div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
They are going to start drug testing welfare recipients in Ohio. Thank god I'm no longer an Ohio taxpayer </p>— velocirapture (@madrugadita) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/626542303394398208">July 29, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></p>
<p class="embed-spacer"> <div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
...Ohio has more people on welfare than those working, just what we need. Not. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Trump2016?src=hash">#Trump2016</a> <a href="https://t.co/Mhx8OzlfSa">https://t.co/Mhx8OzlfSa</a> </p>— Shelia (@Shelia_Kay) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/623567192999641088">July 21, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></p>
<p class="embed-spacer"> <span>This is merely perpetuating an ugly stereotype of people on public assistance," </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoCDiNUbUX4" target="_self">said</a><span> Lisa Wurm, policy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. "I agree with their stated goal of getting people who struggle with drug addiction help, but this is not the way to go about it."</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/s?q=synthetic+marijuana#ixzz3hyTmBQtF" >New York City's newest drug threat is a synthetic substance being called 'weaponized marijuana'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ohio-to-drug-test-people-on-welfare-2015-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/giant-wheel-made-imac-boxes-george-fox-university-2015-8">These guys made a 9-foot hamster wheel from iMac boxes</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/is-elon-musk-just-a-billionaire-welfare-king-2015-6Billionaire Elon Musk can't deny that his companies are getting a ton of help from the governmenthttp://www.businessinsider.com/is-elon-musk-just-a-billionaire-welfare-king-2015-6
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 19:34:00 -0400Gaurav Agnihotri
<p>Elon Musk is undoubtedly one of the most charismatic billionaires in business today, one whose electric cars have created a cult following and whose companies, Tesla Motors Inc and Solar City Corp., have proven popular among investors.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html#page=1">The Los Angeles Times</a> recently reported that Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc., SolarCity Corp. and SpaceX have received $4.9 billion in a variety of state and federal incentives.</p>
<p>Does this mean that the Los Angeles-based entrepreneur has created his empire largely with the help of government subsidies? Is Elon Musk just a billionaire welfare king who has benefited hugely from government grants, discounted loans, tax breaks, government incentives and the sale of environmental credits?</p>
<p>Let us have a look at the companies and the amount of subsidies that underlie Elon Musk’s success so far.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/557ace786bb3f734699dba7e-800-570/screen-shot-2015-06-12-at-8.16.34-am.png" border="0" alt="tax breaks"></p>
<h3><a href="https://au.finance.yahoo.com/q?p=finance.yahoo.com&amp;s=TSLA">Tesla Motors Inc.</a></h3>
<p>Tesla is set to receive an incentive worth $1.3 billion from the state of Nevada in order to build a new battery factory called the ‘gigafactory’ near Reno. Nevada initially offered Tesla its standard incentive package that was in the range of $600-$700 million, but after several rounds of tough negotiations a deal was finalized that also included tax credits worth $195 million which Tesla could sell for cash.</p>
<p>Moreover, anyone who buys a Tesla is eligible for a <a href="http://my.teslamotors.com/incentives/US">$7,500 federal income tax credit</a>, while residents in California can receive an additional rebate of $2,500 from the state. The sum total of federal tax credits for all Tesla vehicle sales stands at $284 million, while total California rebates reach about $38 million.</p>
<p>Tesla Motors Inc. even gets large pay checks from its competitors in the form of environmental credits. California has adopted regulations that require car manufacturers to buy environmental credits if they fail to sell enough zero-emission cars. That works to Tesla’s benefit. So far Tesla has raised more than <a href="http://atomicinsights.com/hero-worship-of-a-corporate-welfare-king-elon-musk/">$517 million</a> from rival automakers by selling credits, allowing them to comply with environmental regulations.</p>
<p>In all, Tesla Motors Inc. has received close to $2.391 billion in form of government subsidies.</p>
<h3><a href="https://au.finance.yahoo.com/q?p=finance.yahoo.com&amp;s=SCTY">SolarCity Corp.</a></h3>
<p>Tesla isn’t Elon Musk’s only source of government largesse.</p>
<p>SolarCity also takes advantage of a variety of government incentives. The federal government allows a 30 percent tax credit through the provision of an <a href="http://www.solarcity.com/residential/solar-energy-tax-credits-rebates">Investment Tax Credit</a> (ITC) to the users of SolarCity Corp.’s solar panel systems. The company has reportedly received direct grants worth $497.5 million from the Treasury Department. SolarCity is also getting a <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/09/24/solarcity-breaks-ground-on-huge-solar-factory-in-new-york-strikes-deal-with-state/">$750 million investment</a> from New York for its plans to build a solar panel factory in Buffalo.</p>
<p>So far, SolarCity Corp. has benefited from $2.516 billion in government subsidies.</p>
<h3><a href="http://www.spacex.com/">Space Exploration Technologies Corp.</a></h3>
<p>Founded in 2002, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX is a manufacturer and designer of advanced rockets and is the first commercial company to ever visit the <a href="http://www.spacex.com/falcon9">international space station</a>. SpaceX has received <a href="http://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/international/spacex-profitable-as-musk-pulls-in-nasa-contracts-google-cash/">government contracts</a> worth $4.2 billion from NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Apart from this, the company has also received a $20 million subsidy to construct a launch facility in Texas.</p>
<p>“If I cared about subsidies, I would have entered the oil and gas industry,” Musk said in response to the aforementioned LA Times article. Looking closely at the history of oil and gas subsidies, we find that the U.S. government has provided the industry with $470 billion over the last century, according to <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/oil-subsidies-renewable-energy-tax-breaks">a report</a> from Mother Jones. Today, <a href="http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2014/07/OCI_US_FF_Subsidies_Final_Screen.pdf">Oil Change International</a>, an advocacy group, says that taxpayers pay nearly $5 billion each year in federal subsidies that promote exploration and development of new fossil fuel resources, a more or less similar amount that Elon Musk’s businesses have received so far.</p>
<p>U.S. President Barack Obama has been trying to remove fossil fuel subsidies for years. “You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future,” he said on the campaign trail in 2012.</p>
<p>However, his proposals have gone nowhere in Congress. Oil Change International says that oil subsidies have in fact grown by almost 45% since Obama took over office in 2009, mainly due to increases in the value of tax breaks and incentives resulting from greater oil and gas production.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/557acebaecad04c83bbbd4c9-800-439/screen-shot-2015-06-12-at-8.16.23-am.png" border="0" alt="tax breaks"></p>
<p>Are such vast sums of money justified?</p>
<p>“The article makes it seem as though my company is getting some huge check, which is fundamentally false,” Musk has said in response to questions about subsidies.</p>
<p>However, Musk cannot deny that his company does indeed receive some huge incentives from the federal government. The rationale behind providing any subsidy is to develop a promising new technology that can be better, cheaper and cleaner than the current available option.</p>
<p>The Mother Jones report finds that renewables receive around $7.3 billion per year in subsidies. Renewable energy companies might argue that their industry is still relatively young, sort of like the oil and gas industry was a century ago. By that logic, subsidies for solar, wind, and electric vehicles make sense – government assistance is helping them get off the ground.</p>
<p>Over time, the government subsidies allow new technologies to advance and bring down costs, allowing for much wider adoption by the general public. For now, Tesla’s are out of reach for most people. People who can afford a $100,000 + per car are the ones whose annual household income tends to be around <a href="http://atomicinsights.com/hero-worship-of-a-corporate-welfare-king-elon-musk/">$320,000</a>.</p>
<p>But speaking to CNBC, Musk emphasized that Tesla wants to eventually create an affordable EV for the masses, although the economies of scale required for that kind of a development are not there at the moment. Musk thinks that could change by 2017.</p>
<p>On the other hand, SolarCity Corp is already offering several affordable schemes to its customers, making solar a competitive option for reducing consumers’ <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Elon-Musk-Just-Made-It-Way-Cheaper-To-Live-Off-Solar-Power/articleshow/44727460.cms">electricity bills</a>. It is worth noting here that both Tesla Motors and SolarCity have reported net losses in the last few years, however their share prices have soared thanks to positive investor sentiment. Elon Musk currently holds around $10 billion in these two companies (SpaceX never discloses its financial performance).</p>
<p>Spending $4.9 billion per year in taxpayer money may or may not be a wise investment. Eventually, Tesla could make cleaner vehicles and clean electricity entirely mainstream. A century of public assistance has helped create Big Oil. Only time will tell if Elon Musk can do the same with Tesla and SolarCity.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/is-elon-musk-just-a-billionaire-welfare-king-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scientifically-ways-women-attractive-2015-5">6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-17-billion-in-overpayments-2015-6Report: Social Security overpaid disability benefits by $17 billionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-17-billion-in-overpayments-2015-6
Fri, 05 Jun 2015 21:46:00 -0400Stephen Ohlemacher
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55724fb56bb3f775378b4567-1200-924/cash-dollars-14.jpg" border="0" alt="cash dollars"></p><p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Social Security overpaid disability beneficiaries by nearly $17 billion over the past decade, a government watchdog said Friday, raising alarms about the massive program just as it approaches the brink of insolvency.</p>
<p>Many payments went to people who earned too much money to qualify for benefits, or to those no longer disabled. Payments also went to people who had died or were in prison.</p>
<p>In all, nearly half of the 9 million people receiving disability payments were overpaid, according to the results of a 10-year study by the Social Security Administration's inspector general.</p>
<p>Social Security was able to recoup about $8.1 billion, but it often took years to get the money back, the study said.</p>
<p>"Every dollar misallocated is a dollar lost for those who truly need it most," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "Today's report shows the inability of the Social Security Administration to properly safeguard payments, which has no doubt contributed to speeding the fund toward exhaustion."</p>
<p>The trust fund that supports Social Security's disability program is projected to run out of money late next year, triggering automatic benefit cuts, unless Congress acts. The looming deadline has lawmakers feuding over a solution that may have to come in the heat of a presidential election.</p>
<p>The program's financial problems go beyond the issue of overpayments — Social Security disability has paid out more in benefits than it has collected in payroll taxes every year for the past decade. But concerns about waste, fraud and abuse are complicating the debate in Congress over how to address the program's larger financial problems.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55725056ecad04ef118b4569-1200-800/ap110729044617.jpg" border="0" alt="Social Security Administration"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A spokesman for the Social Security Administration said the agency has a high accuracy rate for its payments and a comprehensive debt collection program for overpayments.</span></p>
<p>"Social Security provides services to over 48 million retirement and survivors beneficiaries and about 15 million disability beneficiaries," Social Security spokesman Mark Hinkle said in an email.</p>
<p>"The agency will issue nearly $1 trillion in payments this year.</p>
<p>For fiscal year 2013 — the last year for which we have complete data — approximately 99.8 percent of all Social Security payments were free of overpayment, and nearly 99.9 percent were free of underpayment."</p>
<p>"That same year, we also achieved high levels of payment accuracy in the (Supplemental Security Income) program despite the inherent complexities in calculating monthly payments due to beneficiaries' income and resource fluctuations and changes in living arrangements," Hinkle said.</p>
<p>The inspector general's office examined a randomly selected sample of 1,532 people who were receiving either Social Security disability or Supplemental Security Income in October 2003. SSI is a separately-funded disability program for the poor.</p>
<p>Auditors followed the group for 10 years, until February 2014. They determined that 45 percent of the beneficiaries were overpaid at some point during that period. The overpayments totaled $2.9 million, the study said.</p>
<p>They used the results to estimate that Social Security made a total of $16.8 billion in overpayments during the 10-year period.</p>
<p>The study concluded that "the agency could do more to prevent the most common overpayments."</p>
<p>One man was convicted of fraud in 2005 while he was getting benefits under his father's Social Security number. Minors can do this if they have legitimate disabilities, though this man was found to be working and hiding his income, the study said.</p>
<p>A judge ordered him to repay nearly $18,000. He repaid $550, the study said.</p>
<p>In 2013, Social Security approved a new disability claim for the man, under his Social Security number. The agency is supposed to withhold part of his payments while he repays the old debt. But the agency never did because he was receiving the new benefits under a different Social Security number, the report said.</p>
<p>Congress has been looking into Social Security's disability programs for years. Democrats note that the programs help keep millions of disabled workers and their families out of poverty. Republicans have mostly focused on waste, fraud and abuse.</p>
<p><img class="float_left" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5565a9a269bedd333fe30456-1200-800/rtr4xuha.jpg" border="0" alt="rand paul"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In January, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., criticized the federal government for not doing an adequate job policing a system he says needs reform. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Paul, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, joked that "half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts."</span></p>
<p>"Join the club," Paul said. "Everybody over 40 has a back pain."</p>
<p>Advocacy groups called the remarks offensive.</p>
<p>Social Security paid out $142 billion in disability benefits last year. Unless Congress acts, the trust fund that supports the disability program will run dry sometime during the final three months of 2016, according to projections by the trustees who oversee Social Security. At that point, the program will collect only enough payroll taxes to pay 81 percent of benefits.</p>
<p>That would trigger an automatic 19 percent cut in benefit payments. The average monthly payment for a disabled worker is $1,165, or about $14,000 a year.</p>
<p>An easy fix is available. Congress could redirect payroll tax revenue from Social Security's much larger retirement program, as lawmakers have done before. But Republicans in Congress are balking, saying they want to address the program's long-term finances.</p>
<p>About 11 million disabled workers, children and spouses currently receive Social Security disability benefits. About 8.3 million people receive Supplemental Security Income, which is funded separately, through the government's general revenues.</p>
<p>SSI paid out about $54 billion in benefits last year.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-17-billion-in-overpayments-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-after-black-widow-spider-bite-poison-2015-4">Here's what happens when you get bitten by a black widow</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-outraged-about-kansas-tax-on-the-poor-2015-5People are outraged about a Kansas law that critics are calling a 'tax on the poor'http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-outraged-about-kansas-tax-on-the-poor-2015-5
Sun, 24 May 2015 19:46:26 -0400Colin Campbell
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/555e21036bb3f71729f54e25-600-/ap923009577173-1.jpg" border="0" alt="AP923009577173" width="600"></p><p>Kansas is taking a storm of criticism over its new policy strictly limiting ATM withdrawals for welfare recipients to $25 a day.</p>
<p>The controversial limit was signed into law in April by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) as part of a broader reform bill. But the change was placed in stark reality by a Thursday article in The Washington Post titled <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/21/kansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor/">"Kansas has found the ultimate way to punish the poor."</a></p>
<p>The law was meant to limit extravagant or unnecessary spending of taxpayer resources, and the legislation also barred the use of welfare funds at recreational locations like movie theaters, cruise ships, and swimming pools, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266888/kansas-could-lose-millions-for.html">according to McClatchy DC News</a>.</p>
<p>However, the negative consequences for the state's welfare recipients seem clear.</p>
<p>As The Post notes, it would "force beneficiaries to make more frequent trips to the ATM to withdraw money from the debit cards used to pay public assistance benefits. Since there's a fee for every withdrawal, the limit means that some families will get substantially less money."</p>
<p>Al Jazeera <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/16/new-kansas-rules-would-limit-spending-of-welfare-benefits.html">interviewed Elizabeth Lower-Basch</a>, the director at Center for Law and Social Policy, or CLASP, who said the law amounts to a "tax on the poor."</p>
<p>"It’s a tax on the poor, basically, because they are charged every time they withdraw funds from the ATM. Welfare benefits are not very high in the first place, so this just takes money out of poor people’s pockets," Lower-Basch said.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/544873f6ecad04cd4cd5bf3d-1200-800/ap469210952638.jpg" border="0" alt="Sam Brownback"></p>
<p>Additionally, most ATMs do not carry $5 bills. This fact effectively changes the policy to a $20 limit and would potentially result in poor Kansans paying even more withdrawal fees to get the same amount of money.</p>
<p>Experts have suggested the welfare policy change could result in a $100 million cut in money Kansas receives from the federal government. According <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266888/kansas-could-lose-millions-for.html">to McClatchy</a>, the Social Security Act requires welfare recipients to "have adequate access to their cash assistance" while facing "minimal fees or charges."</p>
<p>Though Brownback and legislative leaders <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article21316689.html">are quickly backpedaling</a> in the face of the potential loss of federal funds, various observers have widely expressed outrage about the ATM limit. People who read The Post article <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fblogs%2Fwonkblog%2Fwp%2F2015%2F05%2F21%2Fkansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor%2F&amp;src=typd">reacted with comments</a> like "disturbing," "amazing," and expletives:</p>
<div><div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
Ever withdraw $200 from an ATM? Imagine having to make a trip each day for 10 days. Thanks, small-gov’t Republicans! <a href="http://t.co/WK6CzIEfq8">http://t.co/WK6CzIEfq8</a> </p>— Seth Pollack (@spollck) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/601445666561269762">May 21, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></div>
<div><div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
There are no words to describe how awful this is. <a href="http://t.co/H85fKl83oj">http://t.co/H85fKl83oj</a> </p>— Josh Mound (@JoshuaMound) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/601455914999132160">May 21, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></div>
<div></div>
<p>Some of the state's leading editorial boards have previously blasted the ATM limit.</p>
<p>"Not only are many of the state’s new welfare regulations condescending, the limit on cash withdrawals may violate federal law — potentially endangering $102 million in federal funding. That’s what can happen when lawmakers ram through legislation without proper vetting, and based on ugly stereotypes," The Wichita Eagle <a href="http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/article21510402.html">opined Wednesday</a>. "The best course is to revoke the entire law."</p>
<p>The Kansas City Star slammed the legislation on Monday as an "embarrassment" to the state.</p>
<p>"If nothing else, Brownback’s staff should have observed that ATMs generally don’t allow withdrawals in $5 increments. The state law effectively imposes a $20 limit," the paper's editorial board wrote. "That rushed process, the sign of amateurs at work, has been happening a lot lately in Topeka. And — voila! — the result is bad legislation."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/21/kansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor/">Read the article at The Washington Post</a>.</strong></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kansas-governor-race-sam-brownback-paul-davis-2014-10" >A GOP Governor Tried A Radical Tax 'Experiment' — And Now He's Hanging On For His Political Life</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-outraged-about-kansas-tax-on-the-poor-2015-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/matternet-builds-drones-that-could-save-lives-2014-9">These Drones Could Make A Huge Positive Difference In The Poorest Parts Of The World</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-outraged-about-kansas-tax-on-the-poor-2015-5People are outraged about a Kansas law that critics are calling a 'tax on the poor'http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-outraged-about-kansas-tax-on-the-poor-2015-5
Thu, 21 May 2015 15:32:00 -0400Colin Campbell
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/555e21036bb3f71729f54e25-600-/ap923009577173-1.jpg" border="0" alt="AP923009577173" width="600"></p><p>Kansas is taking a storm of criticism over its new policy strictly limiting ATM withdrawals for welfare recipients to $25 a day.</p>
<p>The controversial limit was signed into law in April by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) as part of a broader reform bill. But the change was placed in stark reality by a Thursday article in The Washington Post titled <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/21/kansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor/">"Kansas has found the ultimate way to punish the poor."</a></p>
<p>The law was meant to limit extravagant or unnecessary spending of taxpayer resources, and the legislation also barred the use of welfare funds at recreational locations like movie theaters, cruise ships, and swimming pools, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266888/kansas-could-lose-millions-for.html">according to McClatchy DC News</a>.</p>
<p>However, the negative consequences for the state's welfare recipients seem clear.</p>
<p>As The Post notes, it would "force beneficiaries to make more frequent trips to the ATM to withdraw money from the debit cards used to pay public assistance benefits. Since there's a fee for every withdrawal, the limit means that some families will get substantially less money."</p>
<p>Al Jazeera <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/16/new-kansas-rules-would-limit-spending-of-welfare-benefits.html">interviewed Elizabeth Lower-Basch</a>, the director at Center for Law and Social Policy, or CLASP, who said the law amounts to a "tax on the poor."</p>
<p>"It’s a tax on the poor, basically, because they are charged every time they withdraw funds from the ATM. Welfare benefits are not very high in the first place, so this just takes money out of poor people’s pockets," Lower-Basch said.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/544873f6ecad04cd4cd5bf3d-1200-800/ap469210952638.jpg" border="0" alt="Sam Brownback"></p>
<p>Additionally, most ATMs do not carry $5 bills. This fact effectively changes the policy to a $20 limit and would potentially result in poor Kansans paying even more withdrawal fees to get the same amount of money.</p>
<p>Experts have suggested the welfare policy change could result in a $100 million cut in money Kansas receives from the federal government. According <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266888/kansas-could-lose-millions-for.html">to McClatchy</a>, the Social Security Act requires welfare recipients to "have adequate access to their cash assistance" while facing "minimal fees or charges."</p>
<p>Though Brownback and legislative leaders <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article21316689.html">are quickly backpedaling</a> in the face of the potential loss of federal funds, various observers have widely expressed outrage about the ATM limit. People who read The Post article <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fblogs%2Fwonkblog%2Fwp%2F2015%2F05%2F21%2Fkansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor%2F&amp;src=typd">reacted with comments</a> like "disturbing," "amazing," and expletives:</p>
<div><div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
Ever withdraw $200 from an ATM? Imagine having to make a trip each day for 10 days. Thanks, small-gov’t Republicans! <a href="http://t.co/WK6CzIEfq8">http://t.co/WK6CzIEfq8</a> </p>— Seth Pollack (@spollck) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/601445666561269762">May 21, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></div>
<div><div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
There are no words to describe how awful this is. <a href="http://t.co/H85fKl83oj">http://t.co/H85fKl83oj</a> </p>— Josh Mound (@JoshuaMound) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/601455914999132160">May 21, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></div>
<div></div>
<p>Some of the state's leading editorial boards have previously blasted the ATM limit.</p>
<p>"Not only are many of the state’s new welfare regulations condescending, the limit on cash withdrawals may violate federal law — potentially endangering $102 million in federal funding. That’s what can happen when lawmakers ram through legislation without proper vetting, and based on ugly stereotypes," The Wichita Eagle <a href="http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/article21510402.html">opined Wednesday</a>. "The best course is to revoke the entire law."</p>
<p>The Kansas City Star slammed the legislation on Monday as an "embarrassment" to the state.</p>
<p>"If nothing else, Brownback’s staff should have observed that ATMs generally don’t allow withdrawals in $5 increments. The state law effectively imposes a $20 limit," the paper's editorial board wrote. "That rushed process, the sign of amateurs at work, has been happening a lot lately in Topeka. And — voila! — the result is bad legislation."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/21/kansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor/">Read the article at The Washington Post</a>.</strong></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kansas-governor-race-sam-brownback-paul-davis-2014-10" >A GOP Governor Tried A Radical Tax 'Experiment' — And Now He's Hanging On For His Political Life</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-outraged-about-kansas-tax-on-the-poor-2015-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/matternet-builds-drones-that-could-save-lives-2014-9">These Drones Could Make A Huge Positive Difference In The Poorest Parts Of The World</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/how-welfare-recipients-actually-spend-their-money-2015-4How welfare recipients actually spend their moneyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/how-welfare-recipients-actually-spend-their-money-2015-4
Sat, 18 Apr 2015 13:22:00 -0400Jordan Weissmann
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/553292aaecad04d96fff1a0a-1054-791/fruit-grocery-shopping-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Fruit Grocery Shopping"></p><p>Red-state lawmakers have been on a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/07/the-double-standard-of-making-poor-people-prove-theyre-worthy-of-government-benefits/" class="entry-content-asset">rather unnecessary crusade</a>&nbsp;lately to stop welfare and food stamp recipients from spending their government aid on luxuries like cruises and supermarket king crab legs. This has, thankfully, led to some discussion about how&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/14/where-the-poor-and-rich-spend-really-spend-their-money/?tid=pm_business_pop_b" class="entry-content-asset">low-income families</a>&nbsp;actually use their money—which is to say, not all that differently than the rest of us. (More of their budgets generally go to food, because people have to eat.)</p>
<div class="entry-content-asset">
<p>This all reminded me of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/this-chart-blows-up-the-myth-of-the-welfare-queen/282452/" class="entry-content-asset">one of my favorite graphs</a>&nbsp;on this subject. In 2013, Ann Foster and William Hawk of the Bureau of Labor Statistics used data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey to analyze the spending habits of families who receive public assistance, including food stamps, cash welfare, housing aid, or Medicaid. Unsurprisingly, their budgets tend to be quite modest. Their big budget items are housing, transportation, and food, spending on which came out to about $6,460 per year, or about $124 per week. That's for an average family of 3.7 people—meaning roughly $33 per mouth to feed. Based on some brief online searching, king crab legs cost about&nbsp;<a href="http://www.crabplace.com/kingcrablegs.asp" class="entry-content-asset">$34 a pound these days</a>&nbsp;(though bulk discounts might be available).</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5532923e6bb3f751119aec71-590-554/welfare_recips_1.png.crop.promovar-mediumlarge.png" border="0" alt="welfare_recips_1.CROP.promovar mediumlarge.png"></p>
<p><span>Here are those expenses broken down into weekly totals, which might be a bit more comprehensible.</span></p>
<p><span><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5532923e6bb3f72b169aec71-590-506/welfare_recips_2.png.crop.promovar-mediumlarge.png" border="0" alt="welfare_recips_2.CROP.promovar mediumlarge.png"><br></span></p>
<p><span><span>The point of these charts isn't that food stamp and welfare recipients never overspend, or make what might seem to be poor financial decisions. (Personally, I would love to see a distribution curve showing the range of spending patterns among families). Nor am I suggesting that these programs are 100% free of fraud; believe it or not, investigators&nbsp;</span><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/04/local/la-me-welfare-20101004" target="_blank">found cases in California</a><span>&nbsp;where welfare beneficiaries withdrew their benefits on cruise ships (the state later banned them from doing so). The point is, these are fringe cases, and they're used to demonize a group of people who are&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/4/14/8411221/welfare-work-benefits" target="_blank">often working extremely hard</a><span>&nbsp;just to get by.</span></span></p>
</div><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-welfare-recipients-actually-spend-their-money-2015-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/edible-bugs-san-francisco-don-bugito-bitty-foods-2015-2">When we showed people the food of the future, they were shocked</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/award-winning-musician-cheats-welfare-2014-11Award-Winning Musician To The Stars Exposed As Welfare Cheathttp://www.businessinsider.com/award-winning-musician-cheats-welfare-2014-11
Sun, 16 Nov 2014 12:25:00 -0500Tristan Kirk
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5468db6beab8ea0f047efd8b-600-/x-factor-1.jpg" border="0" alt="x factor" width="600">An award-winning musician to the stars has been exposed as a benefits cheat after being spotted playing guitar alongside boyband JLS on the Xtra Factor.</span></p>
<p>Joseph Ross’s $36,000 benefits scam was rumbled when a YouTube video emerged of his performance on the X Factor spin off show.</p>
<p>The guitarist, from Walsall, West Midlands, claimed his work had dried up when he signed on for financial support three years ago.</p>
<p>But when a flood of celebrity gigs came up, he failed to stop the payments from the Department of Work and Pensions.</p>
<p>Ross is due to tour with X Factor judge Cheryl Fernandez-Versini in March next year, and has an impressive rostrum of past collaborators, including R Kelly, James Brown, Girls Aloud, and Lionel Richie.</p>
<p>He was awarded the Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television and Arts Excellence Award last year to mark his 26 years in the music business.</p>
<p>He has also raked in thousands as a regular performer on The X Factor and BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.</p>
<p>But at Walsall Magistrates Court last week Ross was handed a 26-week suspended jail sentence after admitting benefits fraud.</p>
<p>Prosecutor Maggie Meakin said Ross received $35,726 in Jobseekers Allowance, council tax and housing benefit that he was not entitled to.</p>
<p>"In his interview, he admitted signing on due to lack of work and when he found work he did not tell the authorities”, she said.</p>
<p>The court heard his ruse was foiled when DWP investigators received a tip-off about the YouTube video of Ross and JLS.</p>
<p>Ian Henery, defending, said Ross, a father-of-five, had mounting debts from paying his band members and an expensive divorce settlement.</p>
<p>"My client was seen performing with JLS on YouTube”, he said.</p>
<p>“He's had payments from the likes of X Factor, Sony Entertainment, and BBC's Strictly Come dancing.</p>
<p>"He is highly regarded in the industry, but the divorce left him high and dry financially."</p>
<p>He said Ross stopped his benefits before going on tour with JLS, as work started to pick up again.</p>
<p>"He has worked with Girls Aloud and made a lot of money working for them for two years”, he said.</p>
<p>Ross is due for a $39,000 payday from the tour with Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, but has so far paid back just £400 of the money he overclaimed.</p>
<p>The musician, who has also played for David and Victoria Beckham, Saturday’s star Frankie Bridge, and Joss Stone, performed at the London 2012 Olympics.</p>
<p>The court ordered him to complete 12 months of supervision sessions, a 20-day benefits fraud workbook, and pay $133 costs and a $125 surcharge after he admitted making a false statement to the Department of Work and Pensions and two offences of failing to notify Walsall Council of a change in his circumstances.</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT1iYjZhMWQ0YjZkMjg3ZWIyNGZlNDAwZTg5MTI1OGU3MyZwdWJsaXNoZXI9NzMwZWI4NmFiNTlmMGQ0MTkyNmFjNjViMDFmODNlMmY=" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1"></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/award-winning-musician-cheats-welfare-2014-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/states-dependent-federal-government-2014-3These Are The States Most Dependent On The Federal Governmenthttp://www.businessinsider.com/states-dependent-federal-government-2014-3
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 00:09:10 -0400Kathleen Caulderwood
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5277cc786bb3f7e175022ce2-480-/food-stamps-7.jpg" border="0" alt="Food Stamps" width="480" /></p><p>In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small conference of supporters that &ldquo;47 percent&rdquo; of Americans were dependent on the federal government and give nothing back.</p>
<div class="article-content clearfix"><span class="print-link"></span>
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>&ldquo;My job is not to worry about those people," he said. "I&rsquo;ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives,&rdquo; he said, in <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a video that was secretly recorded</a> by a bartender at a private Romney fundraiser.</p>
<p>The video soon went viral, and the &ldquo;freeloader&rdquo; myth became part of the national conversation.</p>
<p>Interestingly, new research shows that red states, so designated because they are deemed to be politically conservative and tend to vote Republican in national elections, receive more federal government funding than blue states, which tend to vote Democratic in national elections. The researchers say that blue states typically receive less government funding in general than red states, when funds are calculated as a percentage of total revenue, according to<a href="http://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/#methodology" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> a recent report from Wallet Hub</a>, an online personal finance site.</p>
<p>Researchers from the site looked into tax returns, state revenue and the number of federal employees per capita to determine how dependent certain states were on the federal government.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The idea of the American freeloader burst into the public consciousness when #47percent started trending on Twitter,&rdquo; the report said. &ldquo;While the notion is senselessly insulting to millions of hardworking Americans, it is true that some states receive a far higher return on their federal income tax investment than others."</p>
<p>In first place is Alaska, for which government money accounts for only 20 percent of total revenue. Mississippi, where federal funds represent 45.84 percent of the state's revenue, came in last place.</p>
<p>Click on the map below to see exactly what percent of each state's revenue comes from the government.</p>
<p><iframe width="770" height="520" frameborder="0" src="http://kathleencaulderwood.cartodb.com/viz/7cc75960-b67f-11e3-9c89-0e73339ffa50/embed_map?title=false&amp;description=false&amp;search=false&amp;shareable=false&amp;cartodb_logo=true&amp;layer_selector=false&amp;legends=true&amp;scrollwheel=false&amp;fullscreen=false&amp;sublayer_options=1&amp;sql=&amp;sw_lat=16.97274101999902&amp;sw_lon=-135&amp;ne_lat=58.99531118795094&amp;ne_lon=-61.083984375"></iframe></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/states-dependent-federal-government-2014-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-couple-in-us-lived-on-yacht-collected-welfare-prosecutor-2014-21Couple Allegedly Collected More Than $165,000 In Welfare While Living On A Million-Dollar Yachthttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-couple-in-us-lived-on-yacht-collected-welfare-prosecutor-2014-21
Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:51:00 -0400Kevin Murphy
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/532cd0aaeab8eac14ef33da5-694-520/maghreb-yacht-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Maghreb yacht" />(Reuters) - A couple who collected food stamps and other public assistance from Minnesota while living on a yacht in Florida were being sought on fraud charges, prosecutors said on Friday.</span></p>
<p>Colin Chisholm III and his wife, Andrea Chisholm, accepted more than $165,000 in public assistance between 2005 and 2012 before benefits were terminated, according to prosecutor Mike Freeman in Hennepin County, Minnesota.</p>
<p>Charges against Colin Chisholm were filed in February but they were kept sealed while police searched for the couple, Chuck Laszewski, a spokesman for Freeman, said on Friday. "They know by now we are looking for them."</p>
<p>The Chisholms are each charged with a felony count of wrongfully obtaining public assistance in excess of $35,000, the highest threshold under Minnesota law. Andrea Chisholm was charged on Thursday.</p>
<p>They bought a $1.2 million yacht, The Andrea Aras, in 2005 shortly after applying for welfare benefits in Minnesota, according to complaints against them. They have been accused of living on the yacht in the area of Palm Beach, Florida, for 28 months while lying about living in Minnesota.</p>
<p>Colin Chisholm was the chief executive officer of a satellite television and broadband services company, his wife bred and sold championship dogs, and over a seven-year period the couple deposited more than $2.6 million in bank accounts they did not report on applications for welfare benefits, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>They have lived in luxury homes in suburban Minneapolis, driven a $30,000 Lexus and also collected welfare benefits in Florida, the complaint said.</p>
<p>(Reporting By Kevin Murphy; Editing by Sharon Bernstein)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-couple-in-us-lived-on-yacht-collected-welfare-prosecutor-2014-21#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-tax-relief-and-job-creation-act-of-2012-2014-2A New Welfare Law Sanctions The Worst Stereotypes About Poor Familieshttp://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-tax-relief-and-job-creation-act-of-2012-2014-2
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 13:44:00 -0500Aleta Sprague
<p dir="ltr"><span><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/530799616da811fd10898dea-800-/slots-gambling-smoking-casino.jpg" border="0" alt="slots, gambling, smoking, casino" width="800" />Tomorrow, a new law goes into effect that requires states to sanction stereotypes about poor families &ndash; or lose millions in federal funds.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Here&rsquo;s the stereotype: &nbsp;If you give a poor person cash assistance, they&rsquo;ll blow it all on booze, porn and gambling. That dangerously inaccurate assumption, fed by </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/12/linda_taylor_welfare_queen_ronald_reagan_made_her_a_notorious_american_villain.html"><span>anecdotes</span></a><span> from the campaign stump, spawned the few paragraphs tucked within the </span><a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-112publ96/pdf/PLAW-112publ96.pdf"><span>Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012</span></a><span>. </span><span>The legislation translates tired clich&eacute;s into real policy, by</span><span> </span><span>forcing states to prevent low-income residents from using their </span><span>E</span><span>lectronic </span><span>B</span><span>enefit </span><span>T</span><span>ransfer cards for transactions at casinos, liquor stores and &ldquo;adult entertainment&rdquo; establishments. EBT cards are used by most states to distribute what we colloquially call &ldquo;welfare&rdquo; (its official name is </span><span>T</span><span>emporary </span><span>A</span><span>ssistance for </span><span>N</span><span>eedy </span><span>F</span><span>amilies). </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>No one would argue that TANF money should be used on gambling and liquor. But those anecdotes from the stump aren&rsquo;t data; they&rsquo;re anecdotes. In fact, there&rsquo;s no evidence that this is a widespread problem. In the end, it&rsquo;s a futile, expensive effort for states&mdash;if a TANF recipient wants to use their meager cash grant at one of these prohibited locations, they could simply withdraw the funds at a different ATM. Ultimately, the law is a piece of political showmanship designed to project a &ldquo;tough on fraud&rdquo; image. &nbsp;But it&rsquo;s just a distraction from the EBT system&rsquo;s real flaws and will only make matters worse. </span><span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Those anecdote-driven stereotypes have fed an undercurrent of distrust that has pervaded public assistance policies for decades, giving us regulatory gems like drug testing, finger imaging, and unannounced home visits from the welfare office. &nbsp;Add that up and, research tells us, people in the welfare system can find themselves shrinking away from society -- less likely to vote and less likely to have a bank account than even their economic peers. The result? We add social and political disenfranchisement to their economic marginalization. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Even if you pity not the poor, the new law imposes a significant cost on the states&mdash;and diverts funds that could actually be used to help families get ahead. In California, the process of identifying and categorizing each EBT-accessible ATM was &ldquo;</span><a href="http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=ACF-2012-0002-0016"><span>subjective, labor-intensive, and time consuming</span></a><span>&rdquo; &ndash; and set the state back six weeks and $150,000. Each month, Xerox, the state&rsquo;s EBT vendor, collects an additional $5000 to monitor compliance, while California incurs $1600 in extra staff costs. In other words, not only is the law stigmatizing, but it&rsquo;s also a waste of limited state resources.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>So what are the </span><span>real</span><span> problems with the EBT system? Let&rsquo;s start with the exorbitant fees families often pay to access their paltry benefits. Families on CalWORKs [the California version of TANF] paid over </span><a href="http://www.ccwro.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=640:ccwro-welfare-news-2012-05&amp;catid=117:2012&amp;Itemid=134"><span>$20 million</span></a><span> just to use their EBT cards in 2011. The bulk of the costs come in two forms: transaction fees, which are imposed by the state&rsquo;s EBT contractor, and ATM surcharges, which are imposed by banks and can be as much as </span><a href="http://www.ebtproject.ca.gov/Library/Cash_Access.pdf"><span>$4 a pop</span></a><span>. Meanwhile, the average benefit is only </span><a href="http://www.cdss.ca.gov/research/res/pdf/Paff/2011/PAFFAug11.pdf"><span>$458 a month</span></a><span> per household.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Here&rsquo;s where it gets interesting. Due to the new restrictions, states have disabled thousands of ATMs for EBT users&mdash;over 6500 in California alone. This makes it even harder for families to access their assistance without a hefty price tag. But the federal legislation also requires that states provide TANF households with adequate free access to their benefits. Unsurprisingly, this provision has received far less media attention than the ban on strip clubs&mdash;but is far more important for ensuring the program is actually effective.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>So what is California&mdash;and the rest of the country&mdash;to do? The state gets some things right: it already permits four transaction fee-free withdrawals each month, which exceeds the national average; five states don&rsquo;t offer any free withdrawals at all. But ATM surcharges are another matter. Illinois has banned ATM surcharges for its TANF consumers via </span><a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/93/PDF/093-0583.pdf"><span>statute</span></a><span>&mdash;a similar move in California would save CalWORKs families millions. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>On a more long-term basis, the state could encourage more CalWORKs families to open bank accounts and receive their benefits via direct deposit. Barriers to banking among low-income households are complex, but the state may have a role to play in facilitating a more fair and inclusive financial marketplace. For example, in Washington, an organization called </span><a href="http://www.chs-wa.org/Burst/Public_Policy_Priorities_2013.html"><span>Burst for Prosperity</span></a><span> is urging the state to renegotiate its EBT contract to require that the EBT vendor provide participants with free bank accounts. These types of innovations would transform TANF from a system that monitors, controls and punishes recipients, to one that economically empowers families and serves as an entry point to the financial mainstream. </span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1c18f531-5505-470c-5317-500153869243"><span>Tomorrow&rsquo;s new restrictions on TANF access are harmful and misguided. But they also present an opportunity for envisioning policy changes that will put consumers first&mdash;and treat them with dignity. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-tax-relief-and-job-creation-act-of-2012-2014-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/eitc-single-mothers-crisis-paper-2014-1America's Hallmark Welfare Program Wasn't Very Helpful For Single Mothers During The Financial Crisishttp://www.businessinsider.com/eitc-single-mothers-crisis-paper-2014-1
Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:47:41 -0500Steven Perlberg
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52d40b7e6da811a243c79b4b-480-/children-6.jpg" border="0" alt="children" width="480" /></p><p>Over the past two decades, the American welfare system has shifted more toward one of "in-work" assistance, which tends to stir up less political resistance than programs often pegged as "handouts."</p>
<p>The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), for example, has <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/09/18/how-paying-no-federal-income-taxes-helps-the-poor-get-off-welfare-and-into-work/">become the hallmark safety net</a> for low income families in the United States ever since Bill Clinton expanded the program alongside welfare reform, with the go-ahead from Congressional Republicans. The idea is that embedding work incentives into the tax code is better than simply doling out cash.</p>
<p><span>And it's worked pretty well. There's evidence the EITC has encouraged work among low-income Americans,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w11729.pdf">particularly single mothers</a><span>.</span></p>
<p>The EITC is also part of the reason such a large percentage of Americans don't actually pay income tax &mdash; a fact Mitt Romney reminded us of in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-47-percent-obama-victims-dependent-2012-9">infamous video</a> that would come to define his campaign.</p>
<p>But the financial crisis at its aftermath has presented another case study opportunity for the EITC. R<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">esearchers are looking into how it held up during the hard times. In a new paper "<a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w19785">Do In-Work Tax Credits Serve as a Safety Net?</a>" economists Marianne Bitler, Hilary Hoynes, and Elira Kuka found that the program <em>did not</em> stabilize income for single mothers when the unemployment rate spiked. It did help married couples.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">From the paper:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Our results show that for the largest group of EITC recipients, <strong>single mothers with children, there is a negative but statistically insignificant relationship between unemployment rates and their use of the EITC. There is therefore no evidence that the EITC stabilizes income for this group; in fact the point estimates suggests that the EITC acts as an income de-stabilizer. On the other hand, for married couples with children (and to a lesser extent the childless), use of the EITC is found to rise in recessions and thus the credit acts as an automatic stabilizer for this group.</strong> These results can be understood within the context of labor supply theory and in particular connect to the different predictions for how earnings changes for one- versus two-earner households as well as underlying differences in the distribution of income across the different family types.</p>
<p>"Singles with children, due to being in one-earner families and having relatively low earnings, are at higher risk of losing the EITC in the event of an adverse labor market shock," they conclude.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/december-jobs-report-charts-2014-1" >The State Of American Jobs In 25 Charts</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/eitc-single-mothers-crisis-paper-2014-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/12/linda_taylor_welfare_queen_ronald_reagan_made_her_a_notorious_american_villain.htmlThe Real Story Of Linda Taylor, America's Notorious 'Welfare Queen'http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/12/linda_taylor_welfare_queen_ronald_reagan_made_her_a_notorious_american_villain.html
Thu, 19 Dec 2013 15:02:00 -0500Josh Levin
<p>.</p><p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/12/linda_taylor_welfare_queen_ronald_reagan_made_her_a_notorious_american_villain.html#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/children-of-parents-on-welfare-are-more-likely-to-be-on-welfare-2013-11Parents On Welfare Are Bequeathing A Culture Of Welfare Unto Their Childrenhttp://www.businessinsider.com/children-of-parents-on-welfare-are-more-likely-to-be-on-welfare-2013-11
Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:47:00 -0500Saranya Kapur
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5277cc786bb3f7e175022ce2-534-400/food-stamps-7.jpg" border="0" alt="Food Stamps" width="534" height="400" /></p><p>Academic research in the past has shown that the children of families on welfare are more likely to grow up to be on welfare themselves.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But it isn't just poverty and poor health that are causing this.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A new <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w19237">NBER study by Gordon Dahl of UCSD, Andreas Kostol of the University of Bergen, and Magne Mogstad</a> finds that a parent on welfare creates a culture within the family that makes their adult children more likely to accept welfare.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>The study looks at data from Norway's "disability insurance" (DI) system and finds that when a parent is allowed DI, their adult child's likelihood of participation over the next five years increases by 6%, and grows to 12% after ten years.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">According to the paper, this likely happens because "parents on welfare can provide information about the program to their children, reduce the stigma of participation, or invest differentially in child development." It finds that parents being on welfare is a cause for the child being on welfare, not just a correlated factor.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>As a contrast, they find that children of parents who have been denied welfare have only a 1% probability of being on welfare as adults. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The researcher also found that when parents are on welfare, the probability of the child working or getting a college degree falls. Specifically, when a parent is on welfare, the child is 7.7% less likely to be employed full-time, and 8% less likely to get a college degree. Overall, they are 13% less likely to be employed at all.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Read the whole paper at <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w19237">NBER.org</a>.<br /></span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/children-of-parents-on-welfare-are-more-likely-to-be-on-welfare-2013-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-workers-cost-taxpayers-7-billion-annually-2013-10Half Of Fast Food Workers Get Public Assistance, And It's Costing Taxpayers $7 Billion A Yearhttp://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-workers-cost-taxpayers-7-billion-annually-2013-10
Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:05:00 -0400Hayley Peterson
<p class="p1"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5220dfc4ecad04487d8b4578-1200-924/subway-fist.jpg" border="0" alt="subway fist" /></p><p>Half of fast food workers rely on some form of public assistance to supplement their low wages, costing taxpayers roughly $7 billion annually, according to a report released Tuesday.</p>
<p class="p1">Fifty-two percent of fast food workers' families rely on government programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/publiccosts/fastfoodpovertywages.shtml">according to the report written by economists at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Illinois</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1"><span></span>By comparison, roughly 25% of the total workforce is enrolled in public assistance programs.</p>
<p class="p1">The fast food industry in the U.S. generates sales of about $200 billion of year and pays its workers an average of $8.69 an hour, according to the report. Many fast food employees work part time, but even the families of full-time employees <span>&mdash;</span>&nbsp;specifically, more than half <span>&mdash;</span>&nbsp;receive public assistance.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Overall, one in five families of fast food workers are living in poverty, the report says.</p>
<p class="p1"><span>"The combination of low wages and benefits, often coupled with part-time employment, means that many of the families of fast-food workers must rely on taxpayer-funded safety net programs to make ends meet," the report said.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1">Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and various public assistance programs between 2007 and 2011, the report estimates that $3.9 billion annually is spent on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program for fast food workers' families.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">The families also receive an annual average of $1.04 billion in food stamp benefits and $1.91 billion in Earned Income Tax Credit payments.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The report concludes that public assistance "could be more effective if supplemented by measures that improve workers' wages and benefits."</span></p>
<p class="p2">A conservative think tank blasted the report as a quest by the Service Employees International Union to unionize the fast food industry.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p3">"In its quest to unionize the fast food industry, the SEIU has demonstrated that it will leave no stone unturned <span>&mdash;</span>&nbsp;including using 'research' and arguments that would get a higher grade in creative writing than in a high school economics class," Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, said in a statement.</p>
<p class="p1">A <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/-/rtmw/uploads/NELP-Super-Sizing-Public-Costs-Fast-Food-Report.pdf?nocdn=1">separate report out Tuesday</a> said that the 10 largest fast-food companies in the U.S. <span>&mdash;</span>&nbsp;including McDonald's, Subway, and Burger King <span>&mdash;</span>&nbsp;cost more than $3.8 billion annually in public assistance. The report was conducted by the pro-labor National Employment Law Project.</p>
<p class="p1">The report estimated that the roughly 707,850 workers employed by McDonald's in the U.S. receive about $1.2 billion annually in public assistance benefits. Annual benefits total $648 million for employees of Yum! Brands (which includes Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC), $436 million for employees of Subway and $356 million for employees of Burger King, the report said.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-workers-cost-taxpayers-7-billion-annually-2013-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/americas-welfare-state-is-not-working-nearly-as-well-as-it-should-2013-9America's Welfare State Is Not Working Nearly As Well As It Shouldhttp://www.businessinsider.com/americas-welfare-state-is-not-working-nearly-as-well-as-it-should-2013-9
Sun, 08 Sep 2013 08:04:00 -0400The Economist
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/522c6778eab8ea264e696481-480-/food-stamps-welfare.jpg" border="0" alt="food stamps welfare" width="480" />AFTER her son was born in 2008, Melissa Devilma--homeless, jobless and alone--needed help. The welfare system stepped in: she received $478 in cash and $367 in food stamps each month, along with housing assistance that lowered the rent on her two-bedroom apartment in Boston to $131. Including health care, taxpayers subsidised her to the tune of $33,000 annually. Ms Devilma used the money to go to college and earn a bachelor&rsquo;s degree. She wants to get off the dole.</span></p>
<p>But she says that many of the other welfare recipients she knows are reluctant to seek work or an education. Life in the system is hardly gold-plated, but it is comfortable enough. Even Ms Devilma admits that, if it were not for her son and the recent expiry of her cash aid, she would rather live on welfare than take an entry-level job at McDonald&rsquo;s, which she considers unsuited to her level of education. As it is, she would take any job "just so I have that little money to provide for him".</p>
<p>Policy wonks have long debated the extent to which welfare discourages work. Clearly, it can. In very poor countries, where the choice is either to work or to starve, people work long, back-breaking hours growing food. In rich countries, government safety nets limit how far anyone can fall. Yet these nets are hard to design. Welfare states must balance the desire to keep people out of penury with the equally humanitarian desire to not let them drift into lives of indolence and despair.</p>
<p>America&rsquo;s last big welfare reform was in 1996, when Bill Clinton and a Republican-led Congress put time limits on cash benefits and tightened the requirement that able-bodied claimants must seek work. The results have been impressive. The number of people receiving cash benefits under what is now called the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programme fell from 12.3m people a month in 1996 to 4.1m in 2012. Employment among single mothers rose sharply.</p>
<p>But some worry that welfare is once again encouraging idleness. Paul Ryan, the Republicans&rsquo; congressional budget guru, frets that America&rsquo;s safety net could become "a hammock that lulls able-bodied people into lives of dependency and complacency". A recent study by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, tried to add up what a jobless single mother with two children might receive in each state from seven types of benefit: TANF, food stamps, Medicaid (health care for the cash-strapped), housing assistance, utilities assistance, emergency food aid and the programme for Women, Infants and Children. There was huge variation between states. Such a mother might receive a whopping $49,175 worth of benefits in Hawaii, the most generous state, but only $16,984 in Mississippi, the least.</p>
<p>Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes, the study&rsquo;s authors, argue that welfare is too generous. In 39 states, their hypothetical single mother would make more from benefits than a secretary does from work. In 11, she would make more than a first-year teacher. For many Americans, says Mr Tanner, not working is a "rational alternative" to working.</p>
<p>Critics cite two objections to Cato&rsquo;s methodology. First, most people on welfare do not receive all the benefits that its hypothetical single mother does. For example, only 15% of those receiving TANF benefits also receive housing benefit, which forms a huge part of the Cato package. (True enough, says Mr Tanner, but since there is usually a waiting list for housing benefit, the long-term unemployed are far more likely to receive it.)</p>
<p>Second, in comparing the rewards of work and welfare, the Cato study fails to take proper account of the fact that many benefits keep flowing even after the recipient has found work. In 2011 roughly 86% of children receiving Medicaid came from working families, according to the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a left-leaning think-tank. Most able-bodied adults in households with children that receive food stamps work.</p>
<p>Measuring the benefits that flesh-and-blood Americans actually receive is difficult because the system is unbelievably complex. Cato counts 126 separate federal anti-poverty programmes, including 72 that provide "cash or in-kind benefits to individuals". The states have many more. Some parts of the system make little sense. For example, the food-stamps programme is run by the Department of Agriculture; not because it has any logical connection with welfare, but because Congress long ago yoked food stamps to farm subsidies so that urban and rural lawmakers would vote for each other&rsquo;s pet handouts.</p>
<p>The federal government&rsquo;s main tool for making work pay is the earned-income tax credit (EITC), a negative income tax that tops up the earnings of low-paid workers. For example, a single mother with one child will receive a credit that rises to $3,250 a year as she approaches $9,600 in earnings. This will remain steady until she makes $17,500, at which point it starts to be phased out.</p>
<p>Embraced by both parties, the EITC is considered a success. The CBPP estimates that, along with a similar child tax credit, it lifted 9.4m people out of poverty in 2011. But it does funny things to marginal tax rates: in the phase-out period relatively low-paid workers keep shockingly little of each extra dollar they earn.</p>
<h3>Snakes and ladders</h3>
<p>Other means-tested goodies compound the problem. As a low-paid worker moves up the income scale, benefits are gradually withdrawn. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan number-cruncher, looked at how this might affect a single mother with one child in a typical state (Pennsylvania) in 2012.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/522c665669bedd5515696475-290-299/67dc5d837cb1e39163ad79cc6635c3b9.gif" border="0" alt="67dc5d837cb1e39163ad79cc6635c3b9" />When her income exceeded $4,900, she would have lost TANF. At around $23,000, she would have lost food stamps and federal housing assistance. The CBO calculates that her effective marginal tax rate would range from a modest 17% to a jaw-dropping 95% (see chart 1). If the prospect of keeping only five cents of each extra dollar earned does not discourage work, it is hard to imagine what might. And the CBO&rsquo;s calculation does not include Medicaid and several other means-tested benefits.</p>
<p>Since welfare reform made it harder for the able-bodied jobless to claim benefits, the number of Americans claiming to be disabled has risen fast (see chart 2). In July roughly 8.9m disabled workers received an average of $1,130 each month from the Social Security Trust Fund. That is up from roughly 455,000 in 1960 and 4.4m in 1996. After the financial crisis, when many Americans lost jobs, disability claims spiked again. The most common complaints are of "musculo-skeletal" and mental problems, such as bad backs, depression and anxiety, which are hard to verify.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/522c666ceab8eaa04969648b-290-281/ae04b42306948260b4cb85b8c314e523.gif" border="0" alt="ae04b42306948260b4cb85b8c314e523" /></p>
<p>Have these ailments grown much more common? Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican budget hawk from Oklahoma (and a practising doctor), doubts it. "We looked at a lot of cases, and 30% or 40% of them, no way those people were disabled," he says. "At least one-third of people getting disability payments are able to work. I reviewed about 100 of these records myself, as a physician. They&rsquo;re a joke. Lawyer after lawyer just changed their diagnosis through time to finally get an administrative law judge to approve it."</p>
<p>To be fair, it is often hard to judge how ill a claimant is. Your correspondent met Evette, for instance, picking up food from a charity in Austell, Georgia. She had been in a car crash. She says that she now has such persistent vertigo that she cannot do her job. (She was a bus driver.) Georgia disagrees, and has rejected her claim for disability benefit. She complains: "They said my condition isn&rsquo;t critical; just uncomfortable. I said: 'You&rsquo;re not in my body. How would you know?&rsquo;" She adds: "Sometimes I feel like Georgia tries to make it frustrating so people&hellip;just give up." Social Security&rsquo;s Disability Insurance programme is forecast to go bust in 2016.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/522c66846bb3f7666bb85535-290-208/04fda44ef6978f335a6ba9fbbd5525d5.gif" border="0" alt="04fda44ef6978f335a6ba9fbbd5525d5" />In many other rich countries public health care is imperfect but available to all. In America it is reserved for the old and impecunious. So for some Americans under 65, there is a risk that a pay rise means losing your health insurance. Barack Obama&rsquo;s health reform tackles this by greatly expanding subsidies. From next year Medicaid will be available to people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, and those with incomes up to 400% of that level will be eligible for subsidised health insurance. But still, as with all means-tested benefits, the phase-out will penalise some people for earning more.</p>
<p>If the main aim of welfare is to help people pick themselves up and get back into work, different states have wildly different success rates. The proportion of TANF claimants engaged in "work activities" ranges from 17% in Missouri to 88% in Idaho (see chart 3). This is the official measure, but not an adequate one, since so many welfare recipients are not enrolled in TANF. Last summer the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees TANF, allowed states to change or waive the programme&rsquo;s work requirements, so long as they come up with an alternative plan to encourage work.</p>
<p>Some states do more. Minnesota uses a data-heavy "self-support index" that tracks how many welfare recipients are working or have been weaned from cash aid after three years. Since 1997 Utah&rsquo;s Department of Workforce Services, which administers TANF in the state, has worked with the University of Utah to evaluate what works in getting people off welfare and back to work. In recent years, for instance, Utah has found an uptick in the proportion of welfare claimants who are male. Many lost their jobs during the recession and are eager to learn new skills. Work Success, Utah&rsquo;s scheme for training parents with dependent children, has been pretty effective: 74% of those who used it in the last quarter of 2012 have found jobs.</p>
<p>Washington state has a database that lets different state agencies share information--an obvious trick that is surprisingly rare--and it is developing a risk-modelling programme to assess how best to help each individual, whether that means training, tips for finding a job or drug treatment.</p>
<h3>A leg-up, or a crutch?</h3>
<p>In the nation&rsquo;s capital, meanwhile, little creative thinking is in evidence. Republicans typically want to cut anti-poverty programmes; Democrats want to expand them. Medicaid is growing because of Obamacare; federal housing and child-care assistance are being squeezed by the sequester. Republicans are keen to take a slice out of food stamps, spending on which has more than doubled since 2008.</p>
<p>But there is little talk of simplifying America&rsquo;s welfare system. Britain is trying to fuse multiple benefits into one and place a cap on the total that any individual may receive. Germany has brought its jobless rate down impressively, partly by creating one-stop shops where the unemployed both claim benefits and are shown how to find work or acquire new skills. Yet America remains stuck with a system so complex that even its fans struggle to measure how well it works.</p>
<p>A simpler system that tried to encourage work at every step would fit with the grain of American society. Americans who find jobs often stop claiming benefits to which they are entitled. This may be because the system forces them to re-apply for such benefits, which can be a hassle. But it may also be because they take pride in supporting themselves, says Mr Tanner.</p>
<p>Mirta Rodriguez certainly does. Four years ago she signed up for benefits in Boston so that she could support her family while looking for work. A single mother of three, she eventually received cash assistance, food stamps and Medicaid.</p>
<p>Welfare helped her survive while studying--she now has a degree and a job as a manager at a neighbourhood centre. "I had clear goals," she says. "I wasn&rsquo;t raised to sit at home expecting a check to come in the mail."</p>
<p>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT0yOGMwNGRjZTQ5MjlkMjQ3MzVmODQxYmJhNmNkNjE3NiZvd25lcj1kM2Y2MjMzYjQ4YzhmNmE1ZWQ2NzhjMzU2NDBkZmQxNCZub25jZT04NGY2MTdlOC1mYTc3LTQyNTktOTVjNi1mMGViNDVhY2Q5OTMmcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/americas-welfare-state-is-not-working-nearly-as-well-as-it-should-2013-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>